The Great Connection
Matthew 28:18–20 (NIV84): 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Therefore go and make a disciple of yourself, baptizing yourself in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And teaching yourself to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you to the very end of your age.
I have passages of scripture that I memorize and review on a regular basis. As I was reviewing these verses I came across Matthew 28:18-20. This is known as the “The Great Commission”. Jesus is about to ascend to heaven after He has risen from His death on the cross. All of His disciples are gathered with Him. This passage of scripture is the mission Jesus gives to his disciples and all who would follow. We are included in that group of people. It is right to read it as Jesus’ command to the church as a whole. However, as I meditated on Jesus’ words I know it also is a commissioning of me personally. I decided to personalize the verses. My mind began to wrap around the idea of this as being a commission, “to be” rather than a commission “to do”.
We shouldn’t take away from the original intent of the verse as the great commission of the church, the body of Christ to redeem the world. Jesus’ intention was to give His disciples a clear mission to take redemption to the world. The disciples were to proceed with their mission through the authority of Jesus.
So, the disciples did their job and the commission of Christ has been passed on to us. I should take these words of Jesus personally. Considering my own walk with Jesus, personalizing this verse can bring out some solid truths for me to apply.
The first thing is to consider my commitment to be Jesus’ disciple. He is my personal Rabbi. I have to take seriously what Jesus says about being His disciple. For instance Jesus says in Luke 14:33 (NIV84):
“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
He also said in Luke 9:23–25 (NIV84):
“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
Jesus asks much of His followers. We should not take lightly the commitment to follow Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 characterizes the kind of followers God searches for, as having hearts that are fully committed to Him. God is very comfortable asking us for everything. He is God after all. But He is also our creator and He loves us. Our most abundant life is lived in the shadow of His wing. The intimacy God offers to us through Jesus Christ is worth all the things in this world we might want to keep.
This is why we should be immersed in Christ: in every aspect of God, the Father and the Holy Spirit. I think the most intimate human connection we ever have is inside the mother’s womb. The baby is hidden and protected, fed and given the power to live inside the mother. So is our connection to God the Father, through Jesus the son, by the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 3:3–4 (NIV84)says,” For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
We are so baptized in God that we live and breathe and exist in Him. Proverbs 18:10 says that He is our Strong Tower. And Jesus says in Acts 1:8 that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. We are combined with Jesus in His death, His life and His resurrection. Through this intimate connection we have with God we are being transformed like a baby in the womb into the person that is gradually becoming more like Him.
We do have to put forth the effort to be more like Jesus. If you watch young children their attention to their parents is riveting and constant. They learn everything from them. If we could harness the attention and focus of a young child on their parents and keep it for a lifetime we would all be brilliant. In the personalization of this verse Jesus commands us to “teach to obey everything I have commanded you.” We are to be students of Jesus. We must learn His words and stay within them. Jesus said come to me and learn from me. It is His personal invitation to you and me today. As we abide in Him and learn from Him we learn to live like Him. Our transformation will be greater than our reformation could ever be. The bible is clear though that we have a share in the transformation process. As we fully give ourselves to study God’s word, and the filling of the Holy Spirit, time in prayer, personal worship and fellowship with believers, God’s transformation of us will be greater than the sum of our efforts.
As we commission ourselves to follow Jesus, His promise in Matthew 28:18 – 20 is that He will be with us to the very end of the age. The promise to the church of course comes to us as well. He will be with you to the very end of your age. He shed his blood and died on the cross and rose again to be sure He could keep this promise to you. He not only promises to be with us to the end or our age, He promises to keep us all along the way. The implication is that Jesus will keep us to the end of this age and we will celebrate together the beginning of the next age. So every triumph and all our trials will bring us glory and honor and we will give it to Him. Jesus has a vested interest in your success as a christian. He is for you. He has given you His name because He loves you. He wants to share His glory with you. He will share His glory with you. No matter how many times you fall, no matter the difficulties you face, He will be faithful to you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV84): says,
“6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
As we personalize the last promise Jesus made in the great commission we must take to heart that He is with us to the end of our age. In all our days there are many heartbreaks, struggle with sin and weaknesses, but He will always be there through it all. We answer His faithfulness with our endurance. As the Psalmist says, Psalm 118:5–6 (NIV84):
“In my anguish I cried to the Lord,
and he answered by setting me free.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
Paul reiterates the point so beautifully; Romans 8:38–39 (NKJV):
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus began the commission with the statement that “All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on earth. This brings great comfort to me. I know the journey of my faith has the all powerful calling of the authority of Jesus every step of the way! There is no way I can lose. The journey He has called us to is powered by His authority. He has the power and the love to bring us through every step and ensure we reach the destination to be like Him, to be with Him.
